Karine was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. She was very patient and easy to hold a conversation with. She added to the experience and I would recommend her to anyone.
Private tour in Caen Karine P
5.0
(5) reviews
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Karine P.
5.0
Guide rating
20
Reviews
Tours delivered
5 hrs
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Hello ! I'm Karine and it's a pleasure to meet you. I was born in Caen, 25 years after the Liberation of Normandy, and I was raised up in a village which was part of Sword Beach, one of the five Landing Beaches on D Day. There was a British tank not far away from home. . . It had been knocked out of action on D Day. I was a teenager when veterans starting coming back and I met a lot of them when they came to the graves of their comrades. I have always been interested in History, but also by everything around me : nature, animals, traditions, techniques, agriculture, architecture, art. . . Being a guide for more than 30 years, I am still passionate about my job and happy to meet people from all around the world and let them discover, understand and appreciate my wonderful region Normandy. I like professionalism so I prepare my tours very seriously. Sometimes I am told : "Watch out ! These people are VIP !", let me tell you that for me you are all VIP. . . My best skill I think is to be good at telling stories so that you can better understand, better imagine. I also know how to add some touches of humour to create a pleasant atmosphere : you are on vacation ! If you want me to go more in depth, no problem, I adapt to your requirements. And there are places where silence and respect have to be the rule, like in military cemeteries where our liberators rest for ever. I am ready to tell you about Vikings, William the Conqueror, Archangel St Michael, architecture, painters, local traditions. . . You are more interested about D Day ? I have worked as a senior guide in two major companies specialized in D Day Tours and trained some of the guides who are working in Normandy. I am a "Guide Conférencière Nationale", which means I am licensed by the French government to guide everywhere, including inside Historical Monuments. I am also licensed and insured for transporting passengers. And, most important, I am impatient to guide you ! Carte de Guide Conférencier National (French Licensed Guide card) License for the transport of persons as a commercial activity, in small vehicles. I do not have any restrictions in regard to my guiding, I can offer a full range of experiences
Have a question or want to customize this tour? Message Karine P.
When I was 4 years old, my family moved from Caen to Hermanville sur mer, a small town on the coastline of Normandy, completely unknown. . . Although you might know it better under its D Day codename : Sword Beach. Yes it's one of the 5 landing Beaches of Normandy, where allied forces came ashore in order to start liberating France and north-western Europe. I grew up at the rhythm of commemorations, meeting veterans and family members of the heroes buried in the numerous military cemeteries. This tour I propose you will let you discover and understand why D Day was so important in our history by visiting some of the most significant battlegrounds of D Day, in the American sector, as well as in the British sector. You will also be amazed by the beauty of these war sites. We will stop for having lunch together in a brasserie-restaurant in the middle of the tour, and if you want we can eat fast to visit more sites, or take more time to relax.
Karine was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. She was very patient and easy to hold a conversation with. She added to the experience and I would recommend her to anyone.
This tour was our one splurge in a 3-week trip, and it was worth every cent. My husband and I have different levels of interest in history (he has a high interest and me less so), and we both found the day engaging and inspiring. Karine is gifted at both history and story telling, and her passion was evident at every stop. She was able to build a timeline for the events of D-Day itself, but also the preparation, and the following events of the war. The sheer magnitude of the heroism and sacrifice was evident. From our 13-year-old son: "Karine was a great guide because she answered all my questions with just the right amount of information, she always had something interesting to say about World War II or the landscape around us, and she let us decide where we wanted to go. She also spent extra time on the artificial harbor because I was interested in the engineering part of them."
Karine was an excellent tour guide. Everyone had a great, meaningful experience at the D-Day historic sites. She is an amazing resource of historical information, with many anecdotes and stories. She cared about our well being and she was a problem solver with some of our travel arrangements. She is a great professional tour guide!
Karine guided my wife and I for two days of the Normandy invasion , and one day sightseeing to Honfluor. She was very nice and extremely knowledgeable. My Uncle is buried at the American cemetery and she had done research on him and his family. She found pictures of his unit coming ashore and found the town where he was injured and died. She arranged a private tour of the cemetery and arranged for flags and flowers at the grave site. I highly recommend her to my family and others. David Ledyard
My daughter and I had a wonderful day with Karine. She was punctual, friendly, knowledgeable, gracious, considerate of our needs and sensitive. Karine was really well prepared and had a thorough understanding of the sites we visited even though our Canadian elements of the tour were not where she spends the majority of her time. We would both highly recommend Karine and will most definitely use her again if we are so fortunate as to return to Normandy
On the way between Caen and the coastline, I will explain to you what happened before D-Day and how it started. I will take you to Pointe du Hoc, where American Rangers had to seize a German gun Battery on top of cliffs, and Omaha Beach, the most difficult of the five landing beaches on D-Day. At the American cemetery, I will tell stories of a few of the men buried there. Then, we will drive along the coastline to Longues sur mer, to see some of the German guns that opened fire at allied ships on June 6th 1944, before going to Arromanches (Gold Beach sector) where I will explain you about the large concrete elements offshore, remnants of the British artificial harbor through which thousands of tons of supply transited after D Day to allow the allied forces to win Normandy Campaign. We will also stop at one of the numerous British cemeteries before heading back to Caen. The itinerary is flexible, for any changes please let me know.
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Citroën C4 Grand Spacetourer air-conditioned new (November 2022) It has 6 seats but I use it for only 4 persons, to make it more comfortable for passengers.
Caen, Normandy, 14000, France
anywhere in Caen
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